Dartmouth lax rolls over Fairhaven, 16-5

Saturday

Apr 12, 2014 at 12:01 AM

DARTMOUTH — Emily Quinn and Grace Gamache were the high scorers for the Dartmouth High School girls' lacrosse team on Monday, as the Indians blew by Fairhaven, 16-5, in a Maritime League contest at Memorial Stadium.

Jon Haglof

DARTMOUTH — Emily Quinn and Grace Gamache were the high scorers for the Dartmouth High School girls' lacrosse team on Monday, as the Indians blew by Fairhaven, 16-5, in a Maritime League contest at Memorial Stadium.

Quinn had five goals and two assists and Gamache had four goals and three assists in leading an offensive display that saw eight Dartmouth players score. Nicole Simas had two goals and four assists, and Allie Martin, Hannah Moroney, Steph Bullard, Danielle Barnum and Jenn Wheaton each had one goal.

With that, the Indians improved to 3-1 on the season.

It's not far from where Dartmouth head coach Scott Richards hoped to be — 4-0 would be better, of course — but after a very good season in 2013 (18-2-1 final record) and with a strong returning cast from that group, they're on track and getter better.

"After four games, I think we're right about where we thought we'd be," Richards said. "We're still a little inexperienced on defense, but we continue to be able to score goals."

With Quinn, Gamache and Simas, scoring goals won't be a problem this spring. How the team develops in the middle and back lines will be the key.

"We have plenty of goal scorers, we need some goal stoppers, that's really what we're looking at. I was happy that we held (Fairhaven) to five goals. I mean, we're not happy any time we give up a goal, that's just that way it is. But it's nice that we held them to five goals, it means the stuff that we've been working on in practice is starting to show on the field.

"I think we moved the ball better in the midfield than we have in the past few games. It's been kind of our point of emphasis and something we've been working on. We still need to get better at it, but we're starting to connect on some passes in the midfield."

So, four games in, it's hard to know if Dartmouth can match last year's 18-win season. But they'll be working on it.

"These girls work hard at it. I have to give them credit. We do a lot of drills and work on a lot of basic skills — throwing, catching, picking up groundballs — because they're all really important parts of the game. If you can connect on your passes and pick up the ground balls, you usually win the game. We want to win that battle, and that's what we talk about all the time."

To date, Dartmouth has wins over New Bedford, Bishop Stang and Fairhaven. Their one loss came Saturday against Apponequet, 11-10.

On Thursday, the Indians will have a big test when the face off with Bridgewater-Raynham at Memorial Stadium. Game time is 3:30 p.m.